"We have to do more to educate people, both Muslim and non-Muslim, that this is not Islamic."

Canadian Press

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham HughesImam Syed Soharwardy who is the founder of Muslims Against Terrorism and the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada poses for a photograph following a news conference at a mosque in Montreal, Sunday, October 1, 2017.

MONTREAL — It's important to condemn both terrorism and Islamophobia in the wake of violent overnight attacks in Edmonton, the founder of a Muslim group said Sunday.

Imam Syed Soharwardy says both are forms of extremism.

"This terrorist act in Edmonton proves to us that we have to do more to educate people, both Muslim and non-Muslim, that this is not Islamic," he said Sunday.

"It's haram, completely forbidden — a criminal act."

'We cannot do it alone'

Soharwardy, the founder of Muslims Against Terrorism and the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada, spoke out in Montreal Sunday to denounce the Edmonton attack that saw a police officer stabbed and several pedestrians run down with a van.

Soharwardy says he's troubled that an Islamic State flag was found in the car used in the attack and sees it as a sign the Muslim community needs to do more to combat intolerance and extremism.

"We do have a problem," he said. "We have to recognize the problem and we have to fix it, but we cannot do it alone," he said, calling on other faith groups and government representatives to join the fight.

I am getting hate mail already coming from both Muslims and non-Muslims.

At the same time, he fears the attacks could spur an Islamic backlash that he says has already begun.